Walking Dead: Ratings Decline Prompts Insightful Jokes About Series’ Death and Reanimation

Following the news that AMC’s The Walking Dead had suffered a ratings decline for a fourth consecutive year, fans of the horror series took to the internet to once again make a string of incredibly obvious jokes about the series turning into a televisual zombie.

“Wow, guess the show is the REAL walking dead!” read one comment by user GrickRimes42 on the AV Club. “More like… dead man walking!” read another.

First season showrunner Frank Darabont recalls, laughing, “When I conceived of the show, I have to say, the thought never crossed my mind. It’s such a unique and original play on the title. I’m glad to see the fans really stretch themselves creatively like this.”

Says Walking Dead creator and executive producer, Robert Kirkman, “Seems kind of harsh to write a whole fake news article making fun of bad jokes just because you saw one on an article you read when you were supposed to be working.” Though he quickly added “But, then again, I’m just a fictional version of the real Robert Kirkman added in because you got bored of the direction this joke article was taking, so who am I to judge?”

At press time, the AV Club article had 3697 comments, each one a slightly different observation that a series about zombies had seemingly begun a prolonged decline into a shambling conclusion.